This is about the fallacy. For other uses see red herring (disambiguation)

Ignoratio elenchi (also known as irrelevant conclusion or irrelevant thesis) is the informal fallacy

Informal fallacy

An informal fallacy is an argument whose stated premises fail to support their proposed conclusion. The deviation in an informal fallacy often stems from a flaw in the path of reasoning that links the premises to the conclusion...

 of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid

Valid

Valid is a Brazilian engraving company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro that provides security printing services to financial institutions, telecommunication companies, state governments, and public agencies in Brazil, Argentina, and Spain....

, but does not address the issue in question. "Ignoratio elenchi" can be roughly translated by ignorance of refutation, that is, ignorance of what a refutation could logically be; "elenchi" (genitive singular of the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 elenchus) is from the Greek , meaning an argument of disproof or refutation. This is one of the fallacies identified by Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...

 in his Organon

Organon

The Organon is the name given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics, to the standard collection of his six works on logic:* Categories* On Interpretation* Prior Analytics* Posterior Analytics...

, and in a broader sense he asserted that all fallacies are a form of ignoratio elenchi.

Example

A typical example of ignoratio elenchi is the argumentum ad hominem, that is the attempt to link the validity of an argument to the reputation (broadly speaking) of the person or the people who support it. However, there exists many other forms of ignoratio; an example is provided by the film Thank You for Smoking

Thank You for Smoking

Thank You for Smoking is a 2005 black comedy film written and directed by Jason Reitman and starring Aaron Eckhart, based on the 1994 satirical novel of the same name by Christopher Buckley...

:

Red herring

Similar in category, but with darker implications than ignoratio elenchi, a "red herring" is an answer, given in reply to a questioner, that goes beyond an innocent logical irrelevance. A red herring is a deliberate attempt to divert a process of enquiry by changing the subject.

For example:
Topic A is the proposal that academic requirements be raised. Topic B is the possible effects of a budget crisis on teacher salaries. Topic A is abandoned and the unrelated topic B is introduced.

A "red herring" is a debating tactic that seeks to divert an opponent. A digression

Digression

Digression is a section of a composition or speech that is an intentional change of subject. In Classical rhetoric since Corax of Syracuse, especially in Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian, the digression was a regular part of any oration or composition...

can, similarly, be a verbal tactic of diversion, but has no place in a serious debate; and the diversion of digression may also be in play.

During a political campaign effort, U.S. President Harry Truman referred to accusations that his administrative policies leaked information to communist Russia as a political red herring.

See also

• Chewbacca defense
  Chewbacca defense
  The Chewbacca defense is a legal strategy used in episode 27 of South Park, "Chef Aid", which premiered on October 7, 1998, as the fourteenth episode of the second season. The aim of the argument is deliberately to confuse the jury by making use of the fallacy known as ignoratio elenchi, or a red...
  
  
• Enthymeme
  Enthymeme
  An enthymeme , in its modern sense, is an informally stated syllogism with an unstated assumption that must be true for the premises to lead to the conclusion. In an enthymeme, part of the argument is missing because it is assumed...
  
  
• Non sequitur (logic)
  Non sequitur (logic)
  Non sequitur , in formal logic, is an argument in which its conclusion does not follow from its premises. In a non sequitur, the conclusion could be either true or false, but the argument is fallacious because there is a disconnection between the premise and the conclusion. All formal fallacies...
  
  
• Reductio ad Hitlerum
  Reductio ad Hitlerum
  Reductio ad Hitlerum, also argumentum ad Hitlerum, is an ad hominem or ad misericordiam argument whereby an opponent's view is compared to a view that would be held by Adolf Hitler or the Nazi Party...
  
  
• Sophism
  Sophism
  Sophism in the modern definition is a specious argument used for deceiving someone. In ancient Greece, sophists were a category of teachers who specialized in using the tools of philosophy and rhetoric for the purpose of teaching aretê — excellence, or virtue — predominantly to young statesmen and...
  
  

External links

• Appeal to Authority Breakdown, Examples, Definitions, & More
• Nizkor Project: Red Herring
• Fallacy Files: Red Herring
• The Phrase Finder: Red Herring
• The Art of Controversy: Diversion (bilingual with the original German
  German language
  German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
  
  ) by Arthur Schopenhauer
  Arthur Schopenhauer
  Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher known for his pessimism and philosophical clarity. At age 25, he published his doctoral dissertation, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which examined the four separate manifestations of reason in the phenomenal...
  
  
• Red herring in political speech
• Ignoratio Elechi on TV Tropes